1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable information processing apparatuses and, more specifically, to a portable information processing apparatus capable of accommodating an extension apparatus, typically a disk drive, as a storage apparatus and battery.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, portable information processing apparatuses, typically notebook PCs, often accommodate disk drives such as CD (Compact Disk), DVD, and FD (Floppy Disk) drives. Also, some PCs may accommodate a second battery pack to extend its drive time when carried. However, not all of these extension devices can be accommodated at once in a thin, lightweight portable information processing apparatus. Therefore, one of these devices is selected for use as required, and is installed in a bay of the portable information processing apparatus.
With reference to FIG. 5, a portable information processing apparatus is now described. In FIG. 5, a perspective view of the conventional portable information device viewed from the rear bottom thereof is shown. The conventional portable informant apparatus PIP apparatus PIc , abbreviated to PIP apparatus PIc for the sake of brevity, includes a cabinet 41, and a display unit 42 movably mounted on the cabinet 41 with a hinge 43. A U-shaped bay 41a is provided on one side of the cabinet 41 for installing an extension device 45 such as a disk drive in a detouchable manner. The extension device 45 has a connector (not shown) for removably engaging another connector (not shown) provided inside the bay 41a of the cabinet 41. The bay 41a is formed so that its height L5 is larger than a thickness L6 of the extension device (L5 greater than L6).
The installation of an extension device 45 in the PIP apparatus PIc is now described. Specifically, in this example, an FD drive, or the extension device 45, is inserted into the bay 41a. To read data from a CD by PIP apparatus PIc, the user first operates an eject mechanism (not shown) to eject the FD drive currently installed in the bay 41a, and then insert a CD drive into the connector of the bay 41a until being engaged therewith. However, in PIP apparatus PIc, the extension device having a maximum outer dimension defines the shape of bay 41a in size. This also defines the total thickness of the PIP apparatus PIc. Therefore, although low-profile extension devices are available with recent advanced technology, the height L5 of the bay 41a is still required to be enough to accommodate the existing bulky extension devices. Consequently, reduction in thickness of the entire portable information processing apparatus is difficult to achieve.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to achieve reduction in thickness of a portable information processing apparatus without impairing its extensibility.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a portable information processing apparatus formed of a cabinet comprising an upper case and a lower case that are attached to each other, wherein an extension device is detoucheably connected to the lower case to form at least part of a bottom surface of the cabinet. Therefore, reduction in thickness of the portable information processing apparatus can be achieved.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, one of a plurality of extension devices varied in thickness can be installed as being protruding downward further than the lower surface of the upper case.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, an adjustable foot is provided on the bottom surface of the lower case, the adjustable foot capable of being adjusted in height approximately equal to any one of the extension device and the foot provided on the extension device.
According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in the third aspect, the extension device and the adjustable foot are arranged rearward on the bottom surface of the cabinet as opposed to each other.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.